Today Mike Welcomes John Arroyo, U.S. Army retired to the podcast. John has an amazing story to tell, and he is also a wonderful and inspiring storyteller. He begins speaking about his childhood and the absence of a father figure and the vital role that his mother and grandmother played in raising him as a boy. He reveals how his search for affirmation as he went into his teens led him to gangs, drugs, and becoming a father at a very young age. Battling addiction, his sister stepped in and urged him to join the military, and in 1998 he did just that.

John tells the story of his time in the Army, battling fear of failure and anxiety to become a Green Beret. Coming home, he found himself falling into alcoholism and becoming like his father, being verbally abusive of his family. His wife suffered, his children suffered, and he had become an absentee dad.

He explains what events finally led him and his family to find help in the church. He graduated college and joined the officer program. And his injury was not what you may expect. It was not fighting in the sands of the Middle East, but being shot in the mass shooting at Fort Hood. He details the experience of making the choice to lay there and die or to get up and survive. Now he spreads this message as an inspirational speaker – to get up. Keep fighting even when you don’t know what tomorrow will bring. John now is starting a non-profit to continue to help veterans and others in their lives.

Thank you for listening to Veterans Never Stop Serving. Please like, follow, subscribe, rate, review, and most importantly share this with a friend or any Veteran’s groups that you are associated with. These uplifting stories honor the men and women who have fought and sacrificed for our country, and the more listeners we have, the more heroes we can help.